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Piccalilli Canning Green Tomato Relish is preserving the abundance of your garden when the season is done,  with our family’s traditional green tomato relish named piccalilli.  A green tomato relish I know you will come to love and want to make every year. The recipe calls for a combination of all the products in the garden that you just do not know what to do with.

Why not make this savory relish that is used as a condiment for all your holiday meat dishes. This traditional unripe green tomato recipe comes from Jim’s mother’s family, the Ross family.  Piccalilli traces back to New England in the late 1800s.

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Find all my top 5 canning recipes here: 5 Basic Garden Canning Recipes.

Grace’s original recipe does not call for the water bath, however, to be on the safe side Jim and I water bath any canning recipe.  Pint Jars are the best option, just the right size. You do not need to even can this recipe. It tastes great right when you make it and will last in the refrigerator for at least 3 weeks if it is not all eaten before that. You can also make the relish and put it in freezer plastic containers and freeze it for the holiday season. Piccalilli, or green tomato relish is delicious and a special treat for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. This is the time that my mother-in-law saved her jars to open. You get that fresh garden taste in the dark winter.  The green tomato relish was a treat everyone looked forward to each holiday.

Grace would make this recipe at the end of the garden season and would keep the jars in the root cellar and serve the condiment for Sunday dinner and especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I loved all the preserved relishes my Aunt Lois made so when I was introduced to this wonderful full flavored relish I knew we had to make this with our green tomatoes at the end of the season. If you do not have a garden, all of the ingredients can be found at your local farmers’ market or grocery store. The recipe does take a day to sit so start the recipe when you will be home for a few days.

How to Make Green Tomato Relish

• Make sure you have all of the ingredients at hand and ready to go. You can also substitute or leave out any of the ingredients, just make sure you have the green tomatoes.
• In a food processor or a grinder unit for your mixer, grind the green tomatoes, onion, peppers, celery, and cabbage.
• Layer all of the vegetables that you grind in an extra-large bowl and salt in between layers.
• Cover your bowl and let sit overnight.
• In the morning drain off the liquid that the vegetable release and rise the vegetable in cold water in a small hole colander.
• Mix the vegetable with all the remaining ingredients and cook on the stove at a medium boil for 1 1/2 hours.
• Make sure that you sterilize the lids and rims of your jars in the dishwasher to make sure all germs are removed.
• Try to not handle the jars and lids and rims with your hands but with tongs.
• When you have cooked the mixture, ladle it into canning jars and seal with the proper canning lids and rims.
• You can also put the jars when cooled into the refrigerator to eat right away or put them in freezer jars and freeze.
• If you are going to can the mixture, water bath the sealed jars for 30 minutes.

Supplies Needed:

• Ball Canning Jars
• Lids & Rims
• Large Canning Pot
• Stock Pot for Boiling Water
• Ball Secure-Grip Jar Lifter (a must)
• Canning Funnel
• Cutting Board
• Paring Knife

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